CHAPTER XVI 

 THE EGGS OF BIRDS 



ERHAPS the most fascinating phase of Nature 

 is the way in which she cares for her chil- 

 dren during the early part of their lives. The 

 story of seeds and eggs has not been half told. Think 

 of the tiny thistle-fluff which soars awa}-, borne on the 

 lightest breath of air; of the great cocoanuts in their 

 husks, so hard that they will turn the edge of a knife; 

 of the burrs which ever patiently reach out for some 

 passing creature to carry them to a distant home; of the 

 cones of the forest, whose seeds may be transported by 

 birds, or dropped to the ground only to smother in the 

 shadow of the parent tree. 



In that ''mother of life" the sea, the wonder of 

 the first beginnings holds us spellbound. We see the 

 tin}^ hydroids, those animal plants, flowering and budding 

 on their waving stalks, and presently setting free their 

 "seeds" — jelly-fish, — throbbing with life, drifting away 

 on the ocean currents. Again observe these jellies scatter- 

 ing behind them an untold host of eggs, as a rocket marks 

 its path with a myriad sparks. Think of the salmon 

 seeking her spawming-grounds in the uppermost reaches 

 of rivers, or the cod boldly playing for her offspring the 



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